Wrist-napkin (wrist-nap)

ABSTRACT

The wrist-nap or wrist-napkin was invented to make it easier to wipe your mouth when holding hand held food and prevent the user from having to set food down, wipe hands with a napkin and then secondly wipe face and mouth. The wrist-nap allows user to skip the step of having to set down food to wipe mouth and enables user to wipe mouth on wrist-napkin while still holding food in hands. User can wipe mouth, talk, laugh and enjoy dining experience without having to put hand held food down, and dispose of wrist-napkin when through eating.

This application claims priority from U.S. provisional patentapplication filed Jun. 22,2006, Ser. No. 60/815,641 which isincorporated in its entirety herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The wrist-nap was invented to enable the user to eat messy food withhands and wipe their mouth on the wrist-napkin without having to set themessy food down. By using the wrist-nap, the user is free to continueholding messy food and wipe mouth and continue eating. Usually one hasto set messy food down, wipe hands, get another napkin and then wipeface. User must then pick up messy food again and immediately soilhands. Early experimenting with the wrist-nap used 3m tape, pipecleaners and paper towels. The wrist-nap was able to replace theeveryday hand held napkin and reduce the number of napkins needed to eata messy hand held meal.

PRIOR ART

There have been prior art references that mention wearing a protectivegarment over the sleeve of user to prevent spilling on clothes, toprotect against or for wiping utensils on. None are intendedspecifically to be used while worn on the wrist by user to allow them towipe his/her face and mouth on while holding food, allowing the user tocontinue eating without having to put food down to wipe mouth.

The wrist-nap was invented to be soiled while eating and used while onuser's wrist not garment. These references of prior art differ in eitherconstruction, materials, purpose or functions.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The objects of the wrist-nap are to enable user to wipe mouth and facewithout putting down messy food in hands. User can keep eating food andwipe mouth/face on wrist-napkin without first having to set down food inhands to wipe mouth since would first have to wipe the hands that wereholding the food and secondly wipe mouth/face/chin with a hand heldnapkin. This allows the user to keep eating without setting down food towipe mouth, wipe mouth with wrist-napkin and avoid having tocontinuously sit food down to wipe face/mouth, first wipe hands with anapkin or paper towel to wipe mouth/face and then immediately soil handsby picking up food to eat again. There is also a natural tendency to usefor hands as well.

Perfect for any food, especially messy food eaten with hands, example,ribs, chicken wings, barbecue, cheeseburgers, shrimp, crab, oysters,corn on the cob, watermelon and so on. The wrist-nap is also convenientfor use while eating to go food while traveling in the car. Its uses areendless. Great for outdoor activities, even if windy, picnics, boating,BBQs and anything you eat with your hands. Also can be used if preferredinstead of traditional paper towel or napkin.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Examples of wrist-naps and their use are shown in the Figures. Theseexamples are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

FIG. 1. Disposable paper towel or napkin approximately six inches wideand eleven inches long.

FIG. 1.A. Chosen adhesive means for securing. May be sticky tabmaterial, gum, glue or adhesive strips. Adhesive area may cover thefirst one to two inches of the typical eleven inch length wrist-nap.

FIG. 2. View of user laying arm on wrist-napkin.

FIG. 2.A. Fold section up over wrist.

FIG. 2.B. Fold said section down to overlap FIG. 2.A. and press to sealsnugly.

FIG. 2.C. Adhesive wrist-nap on user's wrist ready to use.

FIG. 3. In roll dispensing form

FIG. 3.A. Chosen adhesive material lines top one to two inches of roll.

FIG. 3.B. Perforations to tear single wrist-napkin off of roll.

FIG. 4. Individual slide on/pull on disposable wrist-napkin made ofpaper towel or napkin material varying in width according to size. Widthranges from two to six inches.

FIG. 4.A. Paper-thin elastic strips/bands embedded in wrist-napkinmaterial. Elastic bands allow user to stretch wrist-nap over hand andcreate a secure fit on user's wrist.

FIG. 5. Individual slide on/pull on wrist-nap on user's wrist.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Individual, disposable, paper towel or napkin material, secured touser's wrist. Intended to be worn on wrist for use to wipe mouth, face,chin and/or hands on while eating. The wrist-nap may be secured towearer's wrist by means of adhesive material lining the top portion ofthe napkin that allows the napkin to be wrapped around the user's wristand securely sealed by the open faced sticky tab adhesive material, suchas that of a post-it note, or the gum/glue on the beginning and end of apaper towel roll.

The wrist-nap can be secured by means of adhesive strips with peel awaybacking that can be attached to the wrist-nap or dispensed separately tobe used to tape on once wrist-napkin in place or the wrist-nap could beslipped over user's wrist by lining the napkin with uniform strands ofpaper thin elastic bands embedded in the wrist-nap material.

Alternatives for securing include velcro, snaps and rubber bands forsecuring, but these may be bulky and not optimal for stream linedeffect, and costly to produce.

Wrist-naps can be produced as one size fits all with the means ofelastic for securing, or it can be sized into categories of extra smallfor children, small, medium, large, extra-large and so on. Individualwrist-naps can be pulled onto wrist over hand if elastic means ofsecuring or wrapped around wrist by user and sealed where overlap occursby gum/glue, adhesive material or tape for individual sizing ifdispensed as paper towel or napkin, allowing tape, glue/gum or adhesiveto secure and size to wearer's wrist.

Disposable, individual wrist-nap made from paper towel or napkinmaterial in sheet form will preferably be approximately eleven incheslong and six inches wide, but size can vary considerably. Rolls ofwrist-naps could vary considerably in size from approximately two totwelve inches depending on the size of the person wearing thewrist-napkin and the amount of arm the user wants covered. Designedspecifically for wiping the face, mouth, chin or hands on while eating.Designed specifically to be worn by user on wrist. User may choose towear on either wrist or both. Wrist-napkins can be produced in anycolor.

Wrist-napkins may be dispensed individually or dispensed from a rollwith perforations to tear wrist-nap from roll. Adhesive material mayconsist of a sticky tab of one sided tape like that of a post-it note,the gum or glue used to secure the beginning and end of a paper towelroll or actual adhesive tape strips with backing that could be peeledoff and placed on wrist-napkin to secure. The adhesive tape strips withthe peel off backing could be attached lining the upper portion of eachwrist-napkin or dispensed separately.

The adhesive material mentioned as sticky tab or glue/gum can be used toline each wrist-napkin horizontally across approximately a six-inch widestrip of the sheet form of the wrist-nap. The length of the adhesivecould vary from one to two inches, depending on chosen adhesivematerial. This allows the user to lay his/her wrist in the middle of theeleven inch long sheet with the sticky adhesive strip face up on theinside at the top of the wrist-napkin. This allows the user to then wrapthe bottom of the wrist-napkin up onto wrist and secondly bring the topportion down with sealing strip/adhesive to overlap bottom piece andpress to secure snugly. This seal will be strong enough for user to wipemouth/face and chin on without pulling apart. This allows wrist-nap tofit any size wrist and be individually sized by preference. Adhesivemeans must be applied horizontally as lining the wrist-napkin verticallywith glue/gum or sticky tab would be uncomfortable to user since whenwrapped as mentioned, the sticky surface would end up on user face/mouthsurface or against user's skin on wrist.

Adhesive tape strips with peel away backing could be applied to anunrolled sequence of paper towels. A piece of tape approximately sixinches long is applied to each towel, leaving the protective coveringfor the tape attached to the side that is not attached to the towel. Thesequence of towels is re-rolled and packaged like a roll of papertowels, similar to FIG. 3.

The wrist-napkin can also be individually packaged as elastic slide on,slip on, or pull on wrist-nap. Size would vary with exact measurementsdependent upon number of size categories preferred. Extra small could betwo inches wide when on wrist and extra large could be six inches wide,with small measuring three inches wide, medium measuring four incheswide and large measuring five inches wide. Another means of sizing theslide on wrist-napkin could be categorized into adult measuring sixinches wide and children's measuring three inches wide. The paper-thinelastic bands needed to make the slip on wrist-napkin comfortable andsecure may require anywhere from four to ten tiny elastic strands,allowing the user to stretch over hand and then retain a secure fitwhile on user's wrist.

1. A wrist-nap made of disposable paper said wrist-nap capable of beingwrapped around and secured to a wrist of a user.
 2. The wrist-nap ofclaim 1 said wrist-nap having an adhesive means selected from the groupconsisting of an adhesive strip of material comprising a sticky tab, gumor glue as adhesive or elastic bands for securing to said wrist.
 3. Thewrist-nap of claim 2 wherein said securing means is an adhesive withpeel off backing.
 4. The wrist-nap of claim 2 wherein said securingmeans is elastic bands.
 5. A method of wiping face or mouth of a usercomprising wiping using the wrist-nap of claim 1.